State says NU can report job cuts after the fact

Rob Varnon

Published 9:14 pm, Thursday, February 14, 2013

Northeast Utilities, the parent company of Connecticut Light & Power, will begin to file quarterly reports on job reductions at the end of March, settling a dispute with the Nutmeg State that could have resulted in fines.

Connecticut officials last year approved the Hartford-based company's merger with NSTAR of Boston in exchange for a rate freeze, customer credits and rules requiring NU to notify regulators before layoffs occur.

NU has, since that agreement, cut jobs without notifying the state claiming, multiple times in regulatory filings, that the reductions are part of a "comprehensive post-merger organizational design process," which involves voluntary attrition and "involuntary separations."

That didn't wash with Attorney General George Jepsen and the Public Utility Regulatory Authority. Jepsen's office said in previous interviews that fines could be levied by PURA for not complying, and NU reached an agreement this month that requires NU to report the number of separations quarterly, beginning in March.

NU won a point, however, as it doesn't appear that it will have to notify the state 30 days before cutting jobs, which was part of the original deal, but now will tell the state after the fact.

During a PURA hearing leading up to the agreement, NU disclosed that since the merger last April, 68 jobs have been eliminated in Connecticut and the company has 155 fewer jobs than it did in March. None of the cuts are linemen.

And the company plans to reduce its workforce by an additional 195 jobs, not all of which will be in Connecticut. The cuts are supposed to balance out between here and Massachusetts, according to Connecticut's agreement.

Al Lara, a spokesman for NU, defended the cuts on Tuesday and noted job reductions are part of the benefits of the merger as it reduces overall costs to customers.

"The job reductions that took place reflect where the duplicative positions existed at the time," Lara said. "This is a continuing process as we work to achieve savings for customers."

While so far the cuts have been heavier in Connecticut, Lara would not say if NU had more administrative personnel than NSTAR at the time of the merger. He said the company will comply with its quarterly filing requirements on jobs.